Two Worlds Cross
by Canadian Aspiring Author
Summary: When Gray goes out on a seemingly plain mission, things go very wrong and he meets a stranger. As it turns out, worlds are crossing into each other and people are crossing over. What will happen when Elrics and co meet Fairy Tail? And who is this mysterious girl who saved Gray's life? What secrets does she hold, and is she a friend or foe? T cuz Potty mouth
1. Chapter 1

Two worlds cross

Chapter 1

Gray was starting to regret his decision.

He trudged through the hot desert, constantly fashioning ice to keep him cool. He was an Ice Mage, in the middle of the desert, that was supposed to be looking for a Fire Mage.

Nervously, he fingered the silver cross on his necklace, pulling out the job request from his back pocket.

**HELP NEEDED! **

**Young Fire Mage Needs to be captured for questioning**

**Has been terrorizing trade route for weeks**

**10,000 J Reward.**

Gray thought about when the job and made its first appearance. The reward hadn't been half as much and no one had really taken it seriously. But the reward kept climbing, until it had peaked everyone's interest yesterday. For some strange reason, Gray had felt compelled to take it.

Natsu had fought him for a good half hour before Lucy and Erza intervened. Lucy had promised a better job, while Erza had promised a few broken ribs if they didn't stop. Juvia had even offered to come, but he had refused. He felt that he needed to take this job on alone.

Now, he realized that maybe it hadn't been the best idea to go alone.

Now that he thought about it, maybe the reason that the reward had escalated was because they had had trouble taking this guy in. Obviously this job had been sent to more than one guild, otherwise the reward wouldn't be so high. And the fact that he had been terrorizing a well-travelled trade route for weeks? They had even had to shut down the route for fear of robbery or injury. Things were staring to get serious.

Unfortunately, if this was a real Fire Mage, then he would be used to the heat. Gray on the other hand, was at a disadvantage. His ice was melting fast, and it was using up plenty of power just to keep himself from passing out from the heat. Heck, he was used to flames, but desert heat was another thing altogether.

Also, he wouldn't be able to do a sneak-attack. There was nothing around for two miles or so except sand and sun. He was out in the open. So, his best strategy was to travel the route, hoping that he could catch the guy's attention. From there he'd have to fight him. Then, he could go and collect his reward, go home, and have a nice cold drink back at the guild.

He was just putting the reward back in his back pocket when there was a sudden streak of red flames and an explosion just off to his left.

The force knocked him off of his feet, and he suddenly realized that somewhere along the way, he had taken off his shirt and pants, leaving him in his underwear.

_Great, _he thought bitterly. _I_'_m fighting a Fire Mage with no clothes on. Even more skin that can be easily burned._

Quickly, he got back to his feet, standing ready to Make something. The explosion had stirred up the sand, making it hard to see and hard to breathe.

Suddenly, Gray heard a noise off to his right. Whipping around, he bellowed "Ice Geyser!" and pillars of ice appeared one after the other, growing faster than thought.

Unfortunately, he had only managed to stir up the sand even more. He was really starting to wish that he had at least brought Max along, their Sand Mage. At least he could move the sand to their advantage.

_Well, it_'_s not like he can see any better, right?_

As if just to prove him wrong, another streak of red streamed towards him. Gray barely managed to get out of the way, but not before the flames had singed his left side, burning him badly.

He cried out in pain, gritting his teeth. He fell to his knees, squinting through his eyelashes, trying to make out anything.

This guy used his magic so weirdly. He had never seen anything like it. Yeah, he had had his share of fights with Fire Mages (excluding Natsu), but this was like nothing he had seen before. A streak of red light, then an explosion? It almost was like Fire Dragon's Roar, but smaller and with less destruction.

Breathing heavily, Gray urged himself to look at the burn. It was along the left side of his body, about the size of a dinner plate. It was bleeding a little bit, which probably wasn't good, but the heat just made it worse.

Then, he realized that someone was standing over him. His head snapped up, glaring daggers at the man in front of him.

He had black hair and squinted onyx eyes, much like Natsu's, except smaller. He was tall and probably in his twenties. He wore strange blue pants that had a gold chain hanging out of the left pocket. He had on a white t-shirt and a blue shirt as an improvised visor. Gray could see the glimmer of medals. A military man, but the uniform unrecognizable from any military that Gray knew of. But his accessories were weirdest. He had on black combat boots and wore white gloves with a red magic circle on the back of them. Gray couldn't see it properly because of all of the sand still swirling, but it was unlike any circle he had seen. The man obviously wasn't prepared for the desert.

He stood over him with perfect posture, one hand at his side, the other outstretched, his fingers together like he was ready to snap them. He looked grim and determined, but also a little afraid. Gray could tell just by looking into his eyes that this man had seen war.

"Will you just leave me alone?" He barked suddenly, as if he were giving orders. "I just want someone to explain to me what's going on and where I am. Do you know how to get to Amestris from here?"

Gray was confused. The pain was ebbing at his strength, and he was fighting consciousness. "Amestris?" He wheezed, "We don't know a lot about other kingdoms or countries, but I sure as hell don't know anything about Amestris. And no, I won't leave you alone, 'cuz you're kinda blocking an important trade route."

Military Man looked like he wanted to say more, when suddenly they both heard a young girl yelling "Wait!"

They both turned their heads to the sound, then back to each other. Then, the man turned tail and bolted, disappearing into the dying sand storm.

Suddenly, a young girl about Wendy's age, fourteen or so, appeared from his left. She ran in front of him, looking from side to side, calling "No! Wait! Please! I just want to...ugh." Then she turned to him, hands on hips.

She had long, loose blonde hair that swirled in the wind still messed up by the explosions. She was wearing a white tube-top and a bright pink skirt with two slits down the sides, giving her a sort of 'wild jungle girl' look.

"I finally manage to track him down after two weeks, get a good read on him, and when I was about to go and confront hi-" she stopped mid-sentence, as if just noticing Gray's injuries. "Oh, no." She muttered, bending down to him. Up close, Gray realized that she had striking purple eyes. Not like Erza's, which were a soft lilac, but a deep violet.

She locked eyes with him, and Gray felt kind of uncomfortable. After a minute she said "Seal the wound."

"What?" He asked, confused.

She gestured to his burn. "You're an Ice Mage. You use "Ice Make", so "Make" a seal and cover your burn. It'll seal the cuts and numb the burns."

"Oh, right." A little embarrassed, he made some ice and covered the burnt area, moulding it to his skin. Instantly he felt better. Why hadn't he thought of it earlier?

"I don't know why, because you've been burnt before. You know how to heal yourself. But the heat could've gotten to you."

_Did she just read my mind? _He wondered.

"No," she said simply. "But I can read your aura, which is kind if the same thing. You were confused and wondering. That means that you were wondering if I could read you mind. So, I can't read your thoughts, but more your emotions. Now, can you please make me a piece of ice, about the size of a fist?"

Confused, Gray did as he was asked. He held the fist-sized ball of ice in his hand.

"Thanks." The girl said, taking it from him. As she held it it took on a different shape and form, until she held a small vial in her hands filled with clear liquid. She held it back out to him, "Drink. I know you don't trust me, but this is just a painkiller. We've got to get you back to the Magnolia Hospital."

He stared in awe at her. "How did you know-"

She snorted. "Puh-lease. I don't have to be an Illusionist to know that you're in Fairy Tail. It's right on your chest, and you insist on being in your underwear. Everyone knows that Fairy Tail is in Magnolia. Magnolia thankfully has a good hospital. So guess where you're going."

She bent down and helped him up, his left arm around her shoulder.

"I can walk on my own!" He cried in frustration.

"No you can't." She hefted him a little bit.

"You're stronger than you look," he muttered.

She grunted. "I get that a lot. Now c'mon, drink that potion."

Gray looked at it wearily. "If I wanted to kill you, I would've already," she grunted.

Gary shrugged, tipping back the vial. The liquid was tasteless and cold. After he drank the last drop, the vial turned back to ice. Gray put it on his temple, hoping to cool his body temperature down.

The girl grunted again, shifting his weight to carry him easier. "let's get you out of here before you melt, Frosty."


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys I kind of forgot to do the disclaimer, so I am really sorry about that. I just want to say that I own nothing except Charlene. Also, I am updating randomly and the chapters are varied in lengths. I have a lot of other stuff on my plate, so yeah. Hope you enjoy!

Two worlds Cross

Chapter Two

"I can't believe that idiot!" Natsu yelled, slamming his fist on the table he sat at.

"Aye, sir!" Happy chimed in.

Lucy just rolled her eyes. "It's not that big of a deal. If Gray says that he can handle it, I'm sure that he can handle it."

"Is this faith in Gray-sama a declaration of love?" Came an angry voice behind her. Lucy jumped out of her seat, coming face to face with none other than Juvia.

Her blue eyes burrowed into her, and Lucy stammered "N-no, I-i'm just a trying to calm Natsu down. And what did I say about the whole 'love rival' thing?" She composed herself and sat back down.

"Acknowledging a teammate's strength is good. Knowing their weaknesses however, can benefit the whole team." They all turned as Erza came to their table. She sat down beside Lucy and mostioned for Juvia to do the same.

Soon, Mira came over with drinks. "I think that we're all a little high-strung right now. That job request had an odd sort of feel to it. But I'm sure that Gray can handle it." She smiled kindly, and after getting everyone their drinks, returned to the bar.

Natsu ignored his drink and put his chin on the table. "He's had plenty of practice fighting you," Lucy pointed out, "And there's no Fire Mage out there that's as strong as you."

"Yeah that's true," he said, perking up a little and sitting up straight, "But I bet you a hundred jewel that Gray's in the hospital."

Suddenly, they heard a crash from the bar. As the group ran forward, they saw that Mira was facing the guild's Communication Lacrima.

"What is it?" Erza demanded, while the others picked up the pieces of the plate that she'd dropped.

Mira seemed to shake out of her stupor and looked at Erza in fear. "That was just the Magnolia Hospital. Gray just checked in."

In a flash, the five of them raced out of the guild and to the hospital. After barging into the lobby, yelling at the receptionist, Natsu setting the desk plant on fire and Juvia having to put it out, they all stood or sat around Gray's hospital bed.

Juvia sat beside the bed in a chair, asking Gray a million times if he was okay. Lucy and Erza stood beside her, while Natsu sat on a chair in front of the bed by the door, laughing.

"Pfft! I can't believe you let a loser Fire Mage like that beat you!"

"I didn't just let him beat me! He used some weird type of magic!" Gray yelled in defiance. Juvia put a hand on his chest, pushing him back. He slumped against the headboard and grumbled "If it hadn't been for that girl, I probably would've died out there."

Juvia's eyes flared. "Girl?" She asked dangerously.

Before anyone could do anything, the girl in the pink skirt and white top came in, carrying a vanilla ice cream and a hot chocolate. "Hey, I brought you some ice cream, but I didn't know what kind you wanted so-" she stopped mid-sentemce, not even fully through the door. "Oh. I guess that I need more ice cream..."

Immediately, she was bombarded with questions.

"Who are you?" Was the general question, but more were asked.

"Where did you get those bracelets? And that outfit..."

"Wanna fight?"

"Are you okay? Where are your parents?"

"Fight me!"

"How did you find Gray-sama?"

"C'mon! Fight me! And why are you barefoot?"

The girl backed up a bit, surprised by the sheer volume of both questions and their voices.

"Oi!" Gray yelled, shutting them up, "Give her a chance to speak! Nngh..." He groaned, leaning over in bed.

"Gray-sama! Don't strain yourself, you'll open your wounds." Juvia rushed back to his side, getting his glass of water for him.

Natsu, Lucy, Happy and Erza turned back to her.

She smiled kindly, setting down the treats. "I guess that I should explain. My name is Charlene. See, I'm an Illusionist. It's an old brand of magic that's very rare. Even rarer than Dragon Slayer Magic," she said, nodding at Natsu. "I would prefer to explain myself once everyone is present, though."

The others glanced at each other. Before they could say a word, Wendy burst in through the door, with Charle flying behind her.

"Oh my!" She cried, rushing to Gray and immediately starting to work her Sky Magic on him. It took her a moment to realize that there was an extra person in the room. "Oh, hello." She said, smiling politely. "I'm Wendy. I hope you don't mind, I'm just healing Gray."

Charlene sipped her hot chocolate. "I know." She winced then put her drink down. "Wow. That sounded creepy. I guess that the better word would be 'sense'."

Everyone looked at her in confusion, then at Gray. He shrugged, "Hey, I know about as much as you do. We didn't exactly get a chance to talk when she was busy saving my life."

"About that," Charlene said, catching everyone's attention again, "In case I haven't stressed it enough. You're an idiot." There were cries of indignation, but she held up her hand. "You should all agree with me. He's an Ice Mage, going to fight a Fire Mage in the desert. Being proud is one thing, but being stupid is another. In hindsight, Natsu, Happy and Lucy should've taken the job."

Natsu jumped up, pumping his fist in the air, his tongue on fire. "Yeah! That just proves that I'm better than Gray!"

Erza re-quipped a sword, aiming it at Natsu. Immediately, he shut up and sat down, still obviously pleased with himself.

"No, you're not at all better," Erza said menacingly, "There are jobs that better suit your talents than his and vice versa. This was one of those jobs that wasn't compatible with Gray's magic."

"She's right," Lucy chimed in, "But, we still have plenty of questions. Like, what's an Illusionist?"

Charlene ran her hands up and down her legs, like she wasn't used to explaining her magic. "It's...hard to explain. See, everything in every world has a magical aura. Illusionists can sense and use that aura. That's how we get magic power: we use some of the power of the object, then change it into something else. Because of this, we hardly ever tap into our own reserves. Illusionists can only work on inanimate objects, but we can see all auras, even those of humans and other living organisms. We can differentiate people by their auras, the same way a Dragon Slayer can differentiate a person by their scent. Illusionists can even sense peoples emotions, which is kind of close to reading minds. That's how I knew that Wendy and Charle were on their way."

"Then how come you didn't 'sense'," Lucy used finger quotes on the word sense, "That other people were in here?"

Charlene smiled, "It's kinda stupid, but hot chocolate is actually my weakness. It has such a nice aura, I usually get totally absorbed in it, so my senses get blocked. Silly, huh?" She said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well," Erza said calmly, "Now that we are all here, how about answering the rest of our questions?"

Charlene sat back in the chair, her pointer finger on her chin, as if she was thinking hard. "Hmmm... Okay, well I already explained who I am...this outfit and my bracelets are what Illusionists tend to wear." She gestured at the bangles on her ankles and wrists, and at a gold bracelet that spiralled up her upper arm. "I'm plenty fine, and I don't have any parents. And," she said glaring at the members of Fairy Tail, as they has all opened their mouths to say something, "I certainly do _not _need your sympathy. They've been dead for a long time. I've moved on." They all shut their mouths, but it was obvious that they wanted to say something. "I am barefoot because I can sense magic and auras better this way, and no, I will not fight you Natsu. (At this Natsu sank back and grumbled in his chair) and how I found Gray..." She trailed off, as if wondering how much she wanted to tell them.

Gray leaned forward in his bed, Wendy still healing him. "What is it, is something wrong?" He asked her.

"It's okay," Lucy said with a smile, "We won't tell anyone!"

Charlene bit her lip, her violet eyes boring into them. They all shivered, and had an odd sense that she was somehow peeing into their very souls...

Finally, she sighed and said "Actually, it was sort of an accident. I had been following someone else and Gray had kind of showed up and interrupted. He was badly hurt so I helped him."

"Yeah," Gray muttered, "You mentioned something earlier in the desert, something about tracking that guy for two weeks..."

"Why were you tracking him?" Natsu asked.

"Maybe she liiiiikes him!" happy said with a smirk.

Charle snorted, "Of course not, tom-cat! That's ridiculous!"

Everyone smiled and turned towards this strange girl, but their smiles disappeared when they saw her dark expression.

"He is not of this world." She said simply.

Immediately the room burst into small chatters and questions.

"What do you mean, 'not of this world?"

"Could it be like Edolas?"

"'Course not! There can't be more than one universe, Flame-brain!"

"And how is she supposed to know about Edolas in the first place, Ice-idiot!"

"But if he is from Edolas, than how did he get here?"

"And how is he supposed to use magic? Juvia thought that Natsu and the others took away the magic in that world!"

"Yes, but he could still use magic here. But it seems like he's known this magic for a while. He knew his stuff."

Charlene remained silent, listening to the questions. After a while, she spoke up. "He is not from Edolas."

"What?" Wendy said pausing her sky magic for a moment, "But you said that he is not of this world...?"

"He's not," Charlene said quietly, "But he's not from Edolas. He would have the aura of a resident of Edolas, which he does not."

"Wait," Erza said, sitting forward, "How would you know what a resident of Edolas' aura is like?"

The young girl shifted uncomfortably, like she was about to reveal some big secret.

"Well, you see, Illusionists specialize in the magic of objects and others. Which means that Illusionists study the magic of other worlds."

"What?!" Cried out everyone.

"What do you mean?" demanded Erza.

"Well," Charlene said quietly, "As you all know of Edolas, this might be easier to understand. Their are infinite worlds out there, with infinite possibilities. They could be as small changes as Natsu wears blue instead of black everyday. Or, they could be completely different like Edolas."

"And what you're saying is," Lucy said slowly, "you think that this man who Gray went after is from another world?"

Charlene shook her head, "I don't think, I _know. _He doesn't have the aura of this world, like everything here does."

Everyone looked slightly dubious and shot glances at one another.

"You don't believe me."

Everyone's heads snapped towards the young teen, who was looking very defiant and wild in her outfit. Before they could say anything, she just continued on.

"Don't bother. I can sense your emotions, remember? Anyways, I didn't really expect you to believe me. There's no way I can prove it, but I can try to explain it, if that'll help."

The Fairy Tail members all looked at each other and nodded. Erza turned back to Charlene. "Alright. Enlighten us then."

Charlene irritatedly blew a stray strand of blonde hair out of her face and slouched slightly, as if she were a grumpy high school student who had just received an assignment. "Okay. Well, Natsu, Wendy," the Dragon Slayers started at their names, "You know that each person has a different smell. But, there are layers and layers of scents that make up that smell. For example, Lucy would have the scent of a human, then a scent of this world, then the scent of a girl, and so on and so on until you have Lucy's smell."

Natsu and Wendy seemed very surprised and impressed. "T-that's exactly it," Natsu stuttered, "How...?"

"It's because peoples' auras are the same deal. Only we sense, not smell. So, are you going to try to believe me, or should I just leave now?" She sat back and crossed her arms and legs looking as if she didn't really care what they thought.

"No," it was Juvia who spoke, "Please, you helped Gray-sama. Now we want to help you."

Everyone else nodded and looked sincere. The young girl sighed.

_Honestly, _she thought, _what am I going to do with these Fairies?_

Then she sat up straight again and looked each of them in the eye. "Okay. But I don't exactly

Iike interruptions, so please wait until I'm done." After a moment of silence only broken by Wendy's Sky magic, she continued. "Well, about two weeks ago, I was in a town near the desert. Every day or so, I scan the area I'm in for suspicious auras. Well, this day I realized that someone's aura was different and I learned that a man had come from a different world. I wasn't sure how, so I followed him for a while so that I could get a good read on him. Unfortunately, I couldn't approach him until I found out everything that I could. It takes a while for me to get a good read on someone and their aura. If I have enough time, I can figure out what happened in their past. I can even see whether people are soulmates. Anyway, with all of the mages coming after him, he was always moving around, making it hard for me to read him properly. Finally today he managed to stay still long enough for me to figure him out. Just when I was about to approach him, I sensed another aura;one of ice and magic. Then, the two idiots fought, and just when Roy-"

"Roy?" Natsu blurted out. Erza, Lucy, and Gray all glared at him. "What?" He demanded, "I don't know who Roy is!"

"No no," said Charlene, smiling nervously. The last thing that she wanted to do was start a fight in the hospital. She didn't have to be an Illusionist to know of Fairy Tail's reputation of destruction. "It's alright, I must've forgot; Roy, or Colonel Roy Mustang, is the man who I've been tracking down. Now. Where was I? Oh yes, so when Roy was about to question Gray, I had to intervene and instead needed up chasing him off. Then I found out that you were hurt and had to bring you here."

After she didn't say anything, the others figured that she was done. "So..." Lucy asked tentatively, "Do you know how he got here?"

Charlene shrugged, "There are lots of ways to get to other worlds, but I'm guessing that since he doesn't know that he's in a different world than his own, that he must've accidentally gone through a portal."

"A portal?" Gray asked.

"Yeah," replied Charlene, "they're like doorways between the worlds. Depending on a whole bunch of variables, they can just pop up and disappear at random. Apparently he was out on a routine inspection/research trip. He had heard reports about people disappearing and decided to check it out. But, he ended up being sucked in. Thankfully, he knows how to survive on his own, so he's in no immediate danger."

"Then why does he keep attacking travellers?" Patiently asked Erza.

"Because," Charlene explained, "the country that he's from has a lot of enemies surrounding it's borders, and has only recently come out of a very long time of war. So it's natural to be nervous when he thinks he's in one of those border countries. If they happened to see his Amestris military uniform, he could be in serious danger."

"So," Juvia asked quietly, "Roy does not know that he is in another world?"

"Nope. It's quite common actually. But most of the time they make their way back. If not then w-someone has to intervene."

She had hesitated before she had said 'someone'. The others shot quick glances but soon stopped after remembering that she could read emotions.

"So..." Happy asked, gnawing on a fish that had appeared out of nowhere, "what now?"

"Well," Charle said, "we need to get Gray out of here and back to the guild. Then, we can figure out a plan. Wendy," Wendy looked up when Charle acknowledged her, "how long until you can be finished?"

Wendy lifted her hands and wiped her brow, "Done", she said with a smile, "it could have been done sooner, but this burn is...weird." She frowned at the place on Grays abdomen where it once was, now there was nothing there.

Charlene bit her lip, but kept quiet.

"Well," Lucy said, clapping her hands together, "if you're all good Gray, then we should head back. Everyone will be glad that you're alright." With that, she left the room, with Natsu and Happy right behind her, Erza walking briskly after them, and Wendy and Juvia stayed behind, making sure that Gray was alright.

"Geez!" Gray said irritably, "I'm fine! I can walk." He then straightened up and left the room, walking at a slightly slower pace than usual. Wendy left with Charle (she still wasn't one hundred percent confident that Gray was as fine as he said) and Juvia was about to follow when she remembered Charlene.

She looked and saw that the young girl was busy with her cup and the unbeaten ice cream.

Before her very eyes, Charlene changed the empty cup and ice-cream into a couple of Jewels {the currency, not the gems} and put them on the table.

"H-how did Charlene-san-"

Charlene winked and smiled warmly at her, "I am an Illusionist after all."

"Oh." Charlene was about to follow the others and leave the room, when Juvia caught her arm, and looked down nervously.

"What is it, Juvia?" Charlene could tell that Juvia was jittery and nervous.

"Well, um," she stuttered, trying to find the right words, "Juvia was wondering...Charlene-san said that she could tell of people were soulmates... Does Charlene-san think that-"

Charlene laughed good-naturedly. "I know what you're asking," Juvia perked up a little, "But I dont like interfering with other people's lives. Besides," she grinned, "it's no fun if I spoil it all for you."

With that, she turned and skipped down the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

Two worlds cross, chapter three

The guild.

**Ok, I just want to say thanks to all of you who have read my stuff, I hope you like it! I might be adding chapter names but I don't know... Also, this story takes place after Edolas but before tenrou **(**this is gonna be a series**)

**And I guess that I should mention that I don't really plan on doing POVs in this, I kinda just switch from one person to another without saying so. It may be confusing but I feel that this is better to get everyone's thoughts and emotions in.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail nor Fullmetal Alchemist. If I did, id be living in a mansion in Japan right now.**

Charlene walked the streets of Magnolia beside the Fairy Tail members, smiling inwardly. She could sense the happiness and friendly annoyance from the commuters going about. Everyone in Fiore had a special honour of Fairy Tail, even though not everyone knew it.

The Mages were already goofing around, Gray and Natsu calling each other names, Lucy rolling her eyes, Wendy and Charle looking worried, Erza keeping a careful eye on them, and Happy flying around saying "Aye, sir!"

Lucy looked back to see that Charlene was smiling, and fell back to talk to her. "What's so funny?" She asked teasingly.

"Oh, it's just that everyone's emotions are so warm and friendly with each other. It's really nice." She smiled brighter up at Lucy, who returned the smile.

"But," she asked worriedly, "why are you back here, instead of up with us?"

"Oh, that?" Charlene laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just that I'm not really used to being so familiar with people. I've been a hermit for quite a while, yknow."

Lucy didn't quite know how to respond. "How old are you?" She asked after a moment of silence between them.

'Fourteen."

Lucy couldn't help but stare. Everyone at Fairy Tail had their own dark pasts and hardships, but _wow. _She wondered what on Earthland could have made this girl want to be a hermit. At least everyone at the guild had been in search of companionship of some sort. She then remembered that this girl had no parents. In the back of her mind, Lucy thought that almost everyone in the guild could sympathize with that, herself included.

"Don't worry about it," replied the young girl easily, and Lucy remembered her ability to read people's emotions. "It's not that big a deal. I had some bad things happen to me, and it's just best that I work alone. Besides, we all have secrets." She winked.

Lucy started, but laughed. The others looked back at them, the girls smiling along with Happy, while Natsu said "Weirdo Lucy."

"Hey!" She cried out indignantly. Everyone laughed good-naturedly as the guild loomed before them.

Suddenly, Charlene stopped short, wincing and clutching her head. Her face was wrinkled, as if she had just come down with a massive headache.

Wendy noticed and turned around, everyone noticing Charlene. "What happened?" The young bluenette asked softly. "Are you okay?"

After a moment, Charlene took her hands away from her head and smiled. "Yeah, thanks. I'm fine. It's just..." She trailed off, staring in awe at the guild that loomed mere feet before her. "It's been a long time since I've sensed this many emotions in one place. I can't wait to meet the members."

With that, the others copied her smile and Natsu burst through the doors.

"Hey, everyone, we're _back!_"

Everyone in the guild turned towards the doors. A handful of people came up and were pressing them with questions. But, before any could be answered, Natsu punched Gray hard in the arm.

"Watch it, Flamebrain!" Gray called out, rubbing his arm. "The hell was that for?"

Natsu laughed obnoxiously and pointed at him, "That's for disgracing Fairy Tail and messing up a simple job. If you can't beat a loser Fire Mage like that, there's no way in hell that you can beat me!"

Suddenly, Gray punched Natsu in the face, which very quickly turned into a brawl between them. Everyone wisely stayed out of their way. Unfortunately, the pair made their way to a certain dark corner where an Iron Dragon Slayer was seated, munching on screws and sitting with a bluenette Solid-Script Mage. Accidentally, (not really) a flaming fist connected with Gajeel's face, and he glowered and punched the attacker back. But, he missed and instead hit Gray. Within seconds, the three of them were locked in battle, raging around the hall.

With a sigh, Levy closed her book and stood up, making her way over to the guild doors, where the rest of the gang still stood. Panther Lily flew behind her, both of them expertly ducking and swerving around tables, plates, chairs, and cutlery that were flying around.

"Hey, Lu-chan!" Levy called out happily.

"Levy-chan!" Lucy replied, smiling and waving as Levy stood beside her.

"Hey, Erza," Levy asked, "Do you know what happened with Gray?"

"Not exactly," Erza replied with a smile, "But I know who does." After getting a confused look, Wendy pointed at Charlene, who had been standing quietly, apparently awed by the now guild-wide brawl.

Charlene hadn't sensed this many good emotions in so long! Even though they were fighting, she could tell that they all cared for each other, and were very protective of nakama. Suddenly, she sensed a questioning aura from someone who had recently walked up. _I'll have to keep an eye on that, _she thought to herself, _with this many powerful emotions and auras, it'll be hard to focus on anything. I better not let myself get caught in a battle with them, it could mess things up..._

She turned to a bluenette who was about Lucy's age and smiled at her. She could tell that she was questioning who she was.

Charlene stuck out her hand with a smile. "I'm Charlene. And you must be Levy, the lovely Solid-Script Mage that I've been hearing about."

Flattered and a little flushed, she shook the young girl's hand and was surprised by her strong grip. She turned towards her fellow guild mates, "Did you blab all of my dark secrets?" She asked teasingly.

Charlene laughed. "No,no, your secrets are safe. I'm just a traveller is all. Fairy Tail is very famous, no matter how you put it." The fairies with her laughed and shared a knowing smile; Fairy Tail had a reputation, that was for sure.

Then, the girls made their way to the back of the guild trying their best to stay out of the fight. Erza got hit in the head with a chair by Elfman, and immediately joined the fray.

Finally, the rest of the girls and Exceeds reached the bar. Mira smiled at them from behind the counter, wiping glasses. "Hello, I see that you've brought a guest. A potential member perhaps...?"

"Oh, Mirajane, this is Charlene-san {**please tell me I used that right, if not, sorry I'm still kinda new and don**'**t fully understand the honouraries**} and she helped Juvia's Gray-sama. Juvia saw Charlene-san do magic, it is quite wonderful," Juvia said, smiling at the young girl, who flushed and looked down at the counter. She wasn't used to getting compliments, and her helping Gray wasn't that big of a deal.

"What kind of magic so you do?" Lily inquired.

"Oh," Charlene said, "I'm an Illusionist. I can change the form of things, sense magical auras, and a whole bunch more."

"Can we please see?" Mira asked excitedly.

Charlene was just about to say something, when they all heard Natsu yell "Heads up!" as a flying table came at them at terminal velocity.

Mira ducked behind the bar, the Exceeds flew straight up out of harm's way, Levy, Lucy and Wendy dropped off of their stools and to the ground. Since Juvia was all water, the table wouldn't bother her, so she just sat there, sipping a glass of tea. Charlene, on instinct, threw up her hands. The table glowed a soft light that was a million colours and then changed into a smaller, rounder shape. The object was flying at them, and Charlene caught a small rubber ball in her hand, bouncing it up and down on the counter.

After realizing that they were safe, the rest of the girls returned to their normal positions. They stared at the young teen in awe.

"So, is that your magic?" Mira asked curiously.

Charlene nodded, a little embarrassed that she had had to use her magic on an object that big and obvious. She didn't like going around shoving her magic in other people's faces.

"That's so cool!" Wendy, Lucy and Levy all said at the same time. Happy agreed with an "Aye, sir!", while the other Exceeds and Mirajane just stared in awe.

"So," Charlene asked, trying to change the subject, "I knew that Fairy Tail was..._rambunctious, _but is it always like this?"

"This is everyone's first impression of Fairy Tail," they all said together, then laughed.

"So," Mirajane asked, "Are you thinking of joining?"

A dark expression crossed her features and Charlene looked away. "I usually work alone."

The take-over Mage looked at the others, obviously looking for answers. Levy looked just as confused, and was just as desperate for an answer.

Lucy leaned forward, and whispered so that only Mira and Levy could hear, "She's been alone a while. No parents. I suggest that we leave her alone. Oh, and she can read emotions."

After a moment, Mira and Levy understood, and tried to change the subject.

"So," Levy asked innocently, "like any books?"

Charlene's eyes lit up, and she smiled. She could still sense the unease amongst the girls, but the fight in the background was messing her up a little bit. But, she did know that they were trying to be nice and making an effort.

"Yeah!" She chirped, "This one series that I read was really good!"

"Really?" Lucy asked, "what was it?"

"Well, I can't remember the name, but it was about a non-mage girl who becomes friends with a Mage. He tried to teach her magic but for some reason she can't, and starts to think that she's useless. But along the way, she realizes that magic isn't the ultimate promblem-solver, and she doesn't need magic to be strong."

"Juvia thinks that she's read that..." Juvia said, closing her eyes as if trying to conjure up the title.

"Well," Wendy interjected, "it sounds really good!"

"Yeah, I'll have to read it!" Lucy chimed in. It went on like that for a while; the girls and Exceeds just chatting, completely ignoring the fight going on behind them. After all of the boys and Erza had tired themselves out, they went back to normal, and the three who had originally started the fight plus Erza made their way over to the bar.

Now that the fight had dissipated, Charlene could read everyone's auras better. The tall brute with white hair and a scar talking to a brunette with glasses sitting at a table with a few other girls, was Elfman Strauss, the Beast Take-Over Mage. He was talking to Evergreen, a Fairy Mage who had the special ability to turn people to stone. She was sitting with the youngest Strauss sibling, Lisanna the Animal Take-Over Mage, Kinina, who had a snake-like aura for some reason, and Laki, the Wood Mage.

Bisque and Alzak, the Gun Mages, were playing with their little girl, Asuka. At another table, the Card Mage, Kana, was drinking a barrel of booze, while chatting with Romeo, a Rainbow Fire Mage, Freed, a Rune Mage, and Bixlow, a Soul Mage.

The newcomer that was with Erza, Natsu and Gray was Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer. Charlene could sense that this man had a dark past, but he was now walking in the light. _The light of the Fairies, _Charlene thought.

As they approached the bar, Gajeel sat beside Levy and gestured at Charlene, "Who's the kid?"

"Charlene," Levy said calmly, then added in a hushed tone so that only his Dragon Slayer ears could hear, "and be nice!"

"Charlene saved my life!" Gray said, ruffling Charlene's hair. She glared at him; she did _not _like people touching her, _especially _her _hair._

"By the way, what exactly happened?" Mira asked curiously, leaning forward on the counter.

"Yeah," asked Elfman, "what happened?" By now everyone in the guild was crowded around trying g to hear and see the person that had saved Gray.

"Uh, well, you see," Charlene stuttered. She did not like people staring at her, let alone an _entire guild _trying to catch a glimpse.

"Leave the poor girl alone!" Came an old voice, and Charlene sighed in relief. The Master had come, surely he would make them leave her alone, right?

Charlene needed to get her magic checked.

As soon as a short, balding man approached her, he smiled and waved. She knew that this was the Third and Sixth Master of Fairy Tail, the Wizard Saint, Makarov. She had expected him to tell them all to leave her alone, let her breathe, and so on. But instead, he grew and hoisted her up on his shoulders so that everyone could see her.

"Go ahead, child. Tell us what happened. We are all very curious."

With a gulp, Charlene started to stutter out the story. As she got further into it, she became more relaxed. She even turned the bouncy-ball back into a table, just so that they could all see her magic. She could sense that they were all impressed, and even some pride from Team Natsu for being the ones to bring her there.

When she was finished, Makarov put her down, and she answered question after question. After a while, the Fairies left her alone, but she was still flustered from having to speak in front of everyone.

"How do you do that?" She asked exasperated as she sat down back at the bar.

"Do what?" Mira asked kindly.

"Get up in front of everyone, talk _and sing! _I just don't get you people." She sighed and put her chin on the counter. Mira giggled.

"It's not that big of a deal. I'm just so familiar with everyone here, I have no fear talking and even singing to them." Her expression and voice softened, "You're not used to being around people, are you?"

She shook her head, lifting her chin up off of the counter and into her hands, resting her elbows on the bar. "Not like this, no. I haven't had a good conversation with someone for so long...I haven't told anyone about my magic in years..." Charlene could feel herself starting to drone on, so she mentally shook herself. _No,_ she thought, _I will not let these people get close. I have an important job to do, and although it was nice making conversation, I should get going. I have to find Roy and get him back..._

Suddenly, Lucy and Natsu came up, with Happy flying behind them. "Hey Mira, Charlene," Lucy said happily, "I'm going home now. Can you please make sure that these two don't follow me home," she jabbed a finger at the boys, "I need to work on my novel."

"Sure thing Lucy." Mira smiled, and Charlene smiled inwardly. She was going to send Natsu and Happy right after Lucy, hoping that something would finally happen between the two.

"Oh," Lucy said, as if just remembering something, "do you have a place to stay?" She asked Charlene.

She shrugged. "Not really. But I can make a house with my magic-"

"No way!" Natsu said, "We can't just leave you alone without a place to stay! If we did, what kind of friends would we be?"

_Friends. _The word echoed in her head. She didn't have time for friends. She had stopped making friends years ago.

"C'mon!" Lucy said, smiling and pleading at her, "You can stay at my place! I know I said that I was working on my novel, but I wouldn't mind you coming over!"

"Hey," Natsu protested, "I thought you said that we couldn't come over!"

"I did, and it haven't changed my mind. You're _still _going to stay away tonight, I don't want you scaring the crap out of Charlene in the middle of the night!"

"It's fine," Charlene said, trying to get her own word in, "Thank you for the offer, but I promise to be quiet. I need to do a Scan anyway."

Natsu looked confused, "A Scan?"

Charlene nodded, "Yeah, it's when I send out my power and read auras from far-away places. I need quiet to do so, but I think that Lucy will be fine with that." She smiled up at Lucy. Who returned the expression.

"See?" She said, glaring pointedly at Natsu and Happy, "We need some peace and quiet tonight, so stay away." Then she turned back to Charlene and grabbed her hand. Before she could protest at the contact, Lucy pulled away through the guild, only giving her enough time to wave back at everyone, wishing them all a good night.

When they got to Lucy's, Charlene had plopped down on the couch, changed her skirt and tube-top to loose pants and a tank-top, and sat cross-legged.

"Sorry to be so forward," she said sheepishly, it had been a while since she had been I someone's house, "but don't worry about me getting the bed. As long as I can sit like this comfortably, I don't need a bed."

"But," Lucy asked worriedly, "Won't you get tired? You need to sleep, yknow."

Charlene smiled knowingly at her, "When I Scan, I shut my boys down to an almost complete stop, so as to preserve energy. I use my magic to send out signals and read auras. While my mind, magic, and soul are busy, my body rests and gets sleep. So I have no real need for a bed."

Lucy seemed slightly crestfallen. "So I guess that you didn't really need to stay here."

Charlene could tell that Lucy was disappointed that she had done nothing for the girl. In an effort to cheer her up she quickly replied, "Well, it's been a long time since I've been in a house as nice as this, or had something as comfy to sit on as a couch. And it's been even longer since I've had a sleepover."

This immediately picked the girl up, and she smiled. "Although, it will be a very _quiet _sleepover." They both laughed, and set to their own tasks.

_She had found him, still wandering in the desert. There was a portal not far from where he was. If only he would go North..._

_She kept a look out for any suspicious auras or activity, but sensed none. The trade route had long been closed, so no travellers or traders to be worrying about._

_Not sensing anything dangerous or even remotely strange, Charlene was about to stop the Scan and set her mind to sleep. Scanning didn't feel near as good as sleeping, but it kept her functioning properly. She hadn't slept properly in days, spending the nights of the last two weeks keeping an eye on things. Suddenly, she felt the presence of five new and odd auras, coming from the desert, a little ways north of Roy..._

Suddenly, a loud crash woke her from her trance. She heard Lucy scream, and sensed two new presences. She was about to go in and help her friend, but realized that the scream had been one of shock, not fear. And the two auras belonged to Happy and Natsu.

She sighed in relief and looked at a stray notebook and pen on the coffee table. Quickly and quietly, she changed her clothes back to her normal skirt and top, and scribbled out a note, thanking Lucy and the others for their kindness and hospitality. She told them that she had to go by herself and for them not to worry. She signed it, but it back to that Lucy would clearly see it, and turned to leave. As she got to the door, hand on the knob, she was stopped by a certain Salamander's voice. "Where ya goin'?"

She mentally cursed herself and said quietly, "I have to leave. Thank you, for everything, but I gotta go."

Charlene opened the door and was about to step through and leave, when she heard Lucy and Happy.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked quietly and kindly.

Charlene sighed. She could sense the fear for herself coming from Lucy, also the curiosity and kindness. She was _so _going to regret her next move.

She shut the door and stepped away, looking at their worried faces. "There are more of them."

It took them a moment, but the Fairies understood. "How many?" Lucy asked.

"Five. They just came through. They're all from the same place as Roy, probably looking for him. I have to go out and find them and get them back."

Lucy walked forward, pulling the young girl into a hug. She could feel her tense, but chose to ignore it. Natsu walked over and smiled, Happy on his shoulder. "Do ya really think that we'd let a friend out alone into the desert at this time of night? I don't care how cool your magic is, you're staying."

Charlene looked up at the pink-haired Dragon Slayer. She knew that they were all genuinely worried for her, and wanted to help. Yup. She was regretting not just walking out and leaving these people. She had learned long ago to not get attached. You only get hurt in the end.

Lucy pulled away and smiled at her kindly, her brown eyes meeting Charlene's violet ones. "How about this; we get some sleep, go to the guild, get some of our friends to help us, and catch the first train out of Magnolia?"

Charlene groaned in her mind. She did _not _want other people with her. They would just complicate things. But it's not like she could say no. These people were genuinely caring about her (which, if she was perfectly honest with herself, she had missed a lot in solitude) and it would be rude to decline them.

"Alright."

Lucy squealed and hugged her tighter, while Natsu pumped his flaming fist in the air, and Happy yelled "Aye, sir!"

_ Maybe these Fairies aren't so bad after all. _She thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello readers. I have decided to do chapter names after all. Better late than never, eh? So yeah, sorry it's late, but I've been awfully busy, and Christmas is coming up fast. So again, please be patient. I only hope that the wait is worth it;) So yeah, here is chapter 4, please enjoy.**

Two Worlds Cross, Chapter 4

THE ENCOUNTER

_Why am I doing this?_ Thought Charlene to herself. She was in the carriage with Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy and Charle. They were back in the desert, with Natsu moaning and groaning and threatening to throw up everywhere. Wendy couldn't use Troia, in case they might need it later, so they all had to suffer. They were complaining and being loud and annoying. _Wonder why I stayed by myself for so long, _she thought sarcastically.

She recalled the morning, when she had woken up early, hoping to leave before anyone noticed. But they did, and she had had to wait an extra hour for Lucy to get ready, go to the guild, and inform Mira and Master that they were leaving. A whole _hour. _Charlene could've been at the train station by then. And then they had had to wait even _longer _when Gray, Wendy, Charle and Erza had wanted to come along. Juvia had wanted to come too, claiming that she wouldn't be leaving her Gray-sama alone in the desert again anytime soon (which Charlene did not get, after all there were seven extra people coming along), but it was Gray who had promised to come back to the guild safe and sound. Even then she reluctantly let them go. Then, finally, _finally, _they had reached the train station. After an hour long ride, they reached the desert town and hailed a carriage to take them out into the harsh domain.

"So," Gray said rubbing his hands together, "When will we get to meet these other guys?"

"Yeah!" Natsu popped his head up, his motion sickness momentarily forgotten, "I can't wait to fight this Flame Alchemist guy and his buddies!" Then, as soon as it had worn off, his sickness came back like a punch to the gut, and he leaned back over, trying to keep in his lunch.

"You're not fighting them!" Lucy exclaimed.

"That's right," Charlene hissed, "Our mission here is to find these people, get them all together, and get them back home. That's _it._"

"And," Erza interjected, "if there is any fighting, I will personally return the pain tenfold."

"A-aye!" Gray did his best Happy impression, his shirt already off and on the floor.

"Y-you're clothes..." Wendy pointed out shyly, covering her face and flushing.

As Gray hurried to put his clothes back on, Charlene closed her eyes. One of the good things that came from this is that she'd finally gotten a good night's sleep. Now, she could Scan and not worry about being too tired-

She flinched, broken out of her Scanning reverie by the shouting in the carriage. There was no way that she could properly perform a Scan with them being like this. And she could sense from these people's auras that they would simply refuse to be quiet. It was in their nature, they were Fairy Tail after all.

Suddenly, Charlene perked up. "Stop." She said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Why-" Lucy started to ask, but she was cut off by Charlene.

"Stop the carriage. Now!" She demanded. The driver heard her, and confusedly stopped. She got off, thanking him and then running off into the dunes.

As the Mages followed her, the driver caught Erza, "But Miss," he said kindly and confused, "There's nothin round for miles. And they say that a dangerous man is loose in these parts."

Erza smiled, "Don't worry, we can take care of ourselves." With that, she raced off, following the others.

The poor old driver was about to say something, when a mark on the pink-haired boy's shoulder caught his eye. _Fairy Tail, eh? _He thought to himself. He smiled and flicked the reins, driving back to the safety of the town. It _was_ Fairy Tail, and he'd heard the stories, they could handle anything thrown at them. And honestly, a part of him was feeling very lucky indeed, considering nothing had gotten broken.

Erza caught up to Lucy and Wendy, who were a few paces behind Natsu and Gray, with Charlene leading. "What's going on?" Erza demanded.

"Charlene-san must've sensed something, but she hasn't said anything," Wendy answered.

Up ahead, Charlene barked something out to the boys, pointed, then fell back to the girls. "The boys know which way to run" she explained, "I'm going to need you guys to protect me for a few minutes, leave me undisturbed. I'm going to do a Read, where I can see the details in the auras. I'm going to figure out who these new people are, so that we can figure out how to approach them." The girls nodded, and Charlene closed her eyes and glowed a very faint light. She started mumbling things like "Elric, Alchemy, Amestris, Hawkeye, auto-mail, Homunculi, Xing," and they didn't understand a word of it, but let her be.

As they neared a particularly large sand dune, Natsu raised his head and sniffed. "I smell 'em!" He yelled, calling back to the others.

Wendy lifter her nose and started sniffing the air too. "Yeah", she said, pointing to the large dune, "they're right over there!" Everyone picked up pace a little bit, both excited and nervous as to who and what they might find. In the distance they could hear yelling, originating from the dune in front of them. It sounded like two boys in a fight (and they knew _exactly _what that sounded like). They could also hear women's voices too, and one voice sounded particularly familiar...

Charlene kept mumbling words that seemed nonsense, but they seemed to be helping her keep her concentration. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, and Lucy, who was right beside her, saw that her eyes were just glowing orbs of light. She stifled a gasp as Charlene barked one word "_Left!_", and jumped to the left behind her. _Wha_- Lucy started to ask in her mind, but was interrupted as a body slammed into hers, pinning her to the ground and pushing her to the left.

Not a heartbeat later, a wall of solid rock erupted from the ground, starting at one end and rising up, going on for at least a mile. Strange blue light flickered around it, and Lucy realized that Charlene must've sensed it coming, and that's why she told them all to duck left. It's a good thing that someone had pushed her out of the way.

As the dust settled and the light died down, Lucy saw that it was Natsu who had pinned her down. "Thanks," she said somewhat irritably, as he had not gotten up yet, "But you can get off me now."

As he was getting up off of her, Happy saw them and sang "They liiiiiiiiiiiike each other!"

"Shut up, stupid cat!" Lucy yelled back, her face red. She would've strangled the cat, but they all ducked instinctively, still filled with adrenaline, as they heard a gunshot ring out.

"Let's go!" Charlene yelled, on her feet and running, "They're right over the crest!" The others followed her, the suspense building as they were all curious as to what they were about to see...

Well, it wasn't what they were expecting, to say the least.

As they reached the flat top of the sand dune, they saw five people standing there: two boys with golden hair, one of which had his in a regular braid at his back, wearing a strange red coat and black pants. The other boy had his hair cut short, but sort of messy. He wore a simple white button-down with khakis. They both looked similar and had the same golden eyes, so the Fairies could assume that they were brothers.

The rest of the party was female. There was a girl who had long blonde hair and blue eyes, and she was wearing a simple skirt and tank top. Another girl also had blonde hair that was pinned up, but brown eyes, and she wore a military uniform that fit Gray's description of what his attacker had worn. She looked very familiar, but they were sure that they had never met her before... The last girl was small, probably about Wendy and Charlene's age, but short for her age. She had black hair separated into six small braids, gathered in two balls tied with ribbon at her head. She wore a strange pink dress, and had a very tiny black and white cat on her shoulder.

But that's not all; the boy with the braid was standing very close to the wall of rock, and there was a smoking bullet hole in his left leg. He looked shocked and angry, and was glaring daggers at the blonde military woman, who was holding a shotgun with one hand, totally impartial. The other blonde girl was yelling at the both of them, and the other two were trying to calm everyone down.

"-Didn't have to shoot my auto-mail!" The blonde-haired blue-eyed girl was yelling. She seemed unbothered by the fact that she was yelling at someone with a recently shot gun.

"Don't worry," the woman said calmly and patiently, "I didn't shoot anything vital. And besides, would you have rather that I shot one of his other limbs?"

"Why shoot me at all?" The raised boy demanded angrily. "It's not like I did anything wrong!"

"Um, brother," the other big asked timidly, smiling nervously, "You did just perform alchemy on a foreign country's land..."

"It's not like I expected it to actually _work! _I can't use alchemy."

"Then why did you even bother to do it?" Asked the dark-haired girl.

"It's instinct!" he barked back.

The woman with the gun was about to say something, when she saw the group of people standing there, watching them. She whirled around, holding her gun with two hands and glaring at them. She, and everyone facing her, gasped.

She had made eye contact with Erza, and both felt like they were looking in a mirror. Sure, the hair and eye colour was different, but other than that, they could be twins. Their faces, their voices, the way they acted. Every Fairy Tail member saw this, and instantly wondered if it was the Erza from Edolas, but with a different colour scheme. The blonde woman, however, was completely taken by surprise.

She had dealt with fake look-alikes before. Heck, she had had to battle Envy when he had tried to pretend to be the Colonel. But the "same but different" look was definitely throwing her off. They looked the same, but had different colours.

She shook it off, promising to investigate later. "Who are you?" she demanded, "And where are we?"

The others of her group looked and saw who she had been talking to. They too seemed shocked. The girl with the scarlet hair looked almost exactly like Hawkeye. Mai silently cursed herself for not noticing their Chi earlier.

"Listen," Charlene said kindly, smiling and stepping forward, shaking the Fairies out of their reverie."We are here to help you. Please, just put the gun down and we can just ta-"

She was cut off by Natsu, who had started to simultaneously combust. The younger blonde screamed, the others looked on in terrified awe, and the military Erza looked as if she was seeing some terrible thing of the past.

"I don't know who you are," Natsu yelled, "But you sure as hell ain't Erza, so stop actin like you can boss us around!"

_Oh no,_ Edward thought, _not again. _Just about two years ago, his whole world had spiralled into madness. Sure, they dealt with alchemy, which had always been a dangerous art, but the weirdness that had followed Ed and Al around for over a year had been too much. First, they found out that the Philosopher's Stone needed human souls to be made, so they couldn't get their bodies back that way. Then, they had discovered the Fifth Laboratory, and started uncovering secrets that were really not to be messed with. Then, they had found out about Homunculi, and the fact that they actually _exist. _Then, his dad turned out to be some 400 year old used-to-be slave who was sort of the father of alchemy. And _before that, _they had met Ling and Mai, and Scar before them, and Father Cornello before them... Heck, Ed could go on forever about how weird his life was, even for an Alchemist. And now, it was happening all over again. Ok, yeah, these people had weird style (but really, who was he to judge), but seemed relatively normal. (Except for the guy without a shirt, but whatever.) But now, this guy just randomly bursts into flames and starts ranting about how Hawkeye couldn't boss him around (which she probably could, considering she was practically the Colonel's babysitter). And the flames aren't even bothering him. In fact, he looks perfectly comfortable cloaked in flames. Scary, absolutely, but he seemed comfortable. _Yep. Here starts the weirdness. _

Suddenly, Gray punched Natsu, shielding his fist with ice so as not to get burned. "Shut up, Flame-Brain, you're scarin' em for Pete's sake!" The new-comers and their other Hawkeye seemed unaffected by the events unfolding before them in fact, they looked like they were mad for scaring the others.

"Just like that water-alchemist who we fought in Central," Ed heard Al mutter. He remembered it too, but couldn't think of the name. He suddenly remembered that he had been able to perform alchemy on his own body, using his blood as a substitute for water. Ed wondered if this weird shirtless dude could do the same. Then he realized something.

"Hey, wait a minute," Ed started, cutting off the red-haired Hawkeye, causing her to glare at him (which did _not _send shivers down his spine, no matter what Al and Winry said later), "How did you do that?" He asked.

The ice boy looked confused, and started taking his pants off almost subconsciously. Before Ed could lunge to cover Winry's eyes, the redhead smacked him hard, the pink-headed flame boy laughed, the little girl with blue hair covered her eyes and blushed, the busty blonde glared at him, and the younger blonde just pinched the bridge of her nose, as if she _really _didn't want the others there right now.

"Gray," the white cat suddenly barked, making the Amestrians jump, (they hardly noticed the blue and white cat, not taking much note of them, being cats and all), "I understand that you have a habit, and it is hot outside, but there are frightened and _young people here,_" she shot a glare pointedly at the blue-haired girl and Mai.

"Sorry," the man called Gray said, rubbing the back of his head where the red-head had smacked him, "It's not like I can control it." Ed and Al instinctively grabbed onto Winry and Mai, ready to cover their eyes at a moments notice. _Really?_ They all thought, _A guy who can't control a stripping habit?_"

Gray turned back to them and answered Ed's question, which he had almost forgotten. "And to answer your question, it's a part of my magic."

Ed couldn't help but laugh (rather rudely), "_Magic?_" He spluttered out, "Okay buddy, whatever you say." He turned to Al and smirked, clutching his sides. "Hey Al, remember Father Cornello?"

Al laughed nervously, "Yeah, the fake priest in Liore, right?"

"That's the one!" Ed called back barely holding back laughter, his tone teasing and slightly condescending, "Yeah, he was _real _magical huh?" he laughed again, causing the Fairies to stare at him oddly.

_Why don't they believe in magic? _Lucy thought, _Even in Edolas, though their magic was different, they still _had _magic. And what about this false priest...?_"

Charlene stepped forward. She could sense the confusion and hostility in the Fairy Tail members, and the eldest Elric was not making it any better. "Listen," she tried again, speaking louder but keeping her tone soft, "This may sound odd, but we actually _do _have magic. Everyone here with me posses it, actually. In this world, everyone uses magic. Not everyone practices it, but it is a part of normal everyday life." _Well, excluding the other countries, but Fiore has always kind of been on its own. We don't need to worry about those other lands right now... _Charlene thought, keeping that last bit to herself. No need to get things complicated. Well, more complicated than they already were.

Ed had stopped his laughing, and everyone on his side turned serious.

"You're joking," Winry asked nervously, shuffling her feet. Sure, she had experienced alchemy first hand, having grown up with the Elrics, but she couldn't say that she was especially familiar with it, since Ed gave it up. But this was a little much. "Right?" She stared at each of the so-called "magic-users" in front of her, and when their expressions softened slightly, they smiled and dint say anything, she groaned and smacked her hand to her head. "Geez. I'm just a simple auto-mail mechanic. I didn't ask for any of this alchemy or magic."

Ed laughed and draped his arm around her again. "Well," he said with a light laugh, "What'd ya expect? It's us, everything weird happens to us. This is just another one of those weird things."

Charlene sighed in relief. No one had yet started a fight, they were slowly easing into each other's presence (though Erza and Hawkeye were still suspicious of each other and kept eyeing the other warily), and the other-worlders had taken the magic news pretty well. _What did I expect? _She thought to herself, _This is the Elrics, Mai Chang, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, and Winry Rockbell. I expect nothing less from these guys. So far so good..._

She was just about to suggest introductions so that they could all stop calling each other nicknames or specifying them by their appearance, when she sensed an aura approaching fast. Mai sensed it too, because she perked up and focused on a point to the left of the group.

"What is it?" Al asked.

"His Chi," Mai explained dreamily, "Can't you sense it?" Al was confused for a moment, then he realized that a familiar flow of Chi was coming their way from the left.

Before they could tell anyone, Roy Mustang appeared from the point that Mai was staring at, emerging from the dune.

He looked tired, hot, and worn down. His face instantly brightened when he saw Riza and the others (but mostly Riza), but darkened when he saw who was with them.

He glared at Gray, fingers primed, the glove on, "_You._"

Gray glared back, and his body seemed to glow an icy blue light as he got into his Ice Make: stance. He had managed to keep his pants, thankfully, but he was still shirtless. "_You._" He echoed back, just as threateningly.

_Oh great, _she thought bitterly, smacking her palm to her forehead, _I should've known not to jinx it._


	5. Chapter 5 from bad to worse

**hey guys sorry that this took so long. Christmas happened and I didn't get a spare moment and then exams and ugh. Sorry. Plus, this chapter was hard to write and really long, but I hope that you guys like it. Don't worry, there will be plenty of chapters for this. Plus, it's going to be a series, so buckle up. Without further adeu **

CHAPTER 5

From Bad to Worse

_This is why I work alone, _Charlene thought for what seemed like the millionth time. Gray and Mustang were glaring daggers at each other, and she could sense the hatred and anger pouring out from them.

All of a sudden, Natsu jumped in, his hands on fire, "Hell, if Gray's fightin', so am I!" Gray then proceeded to punch Natsu in the face, yelling

"This is my unfinished business, Flame-Brain! Stay outta this!" Natsu and Gray continued and began one of their usual fights, kicking and punching each other, calling nicknames all the while. Mustang looked confused, but before he could do anything, he was pulled into the fray.

"Look out Colonel," Ed yelled, cracking his knuckles and joining in on the action.

"I thought that we weren't fighting?" Wendy asked quietly.

"Honestly, did you really think that they could even hold out this long?" Lucy replied, looking as if she had expected something like this would happen. Winry, Al, and Mai made their way over to where the two girls and Exceeds stood.

"Does this happen a lot?" Winry asked nervously.

"You'd be surprised," Charle said in annoyance. The second party all flinched, still not at all used to the idea of a talking, flying cat.

"Honestly, I'm not that surprised," Al said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Brother's like that too; he loves picking fights. Especially if someone insults his height."

"But they're never this _vicious._" Mai said nervously. She sensed their Chis, and they were powerful. She looked up at Lucy and Wendy. "Will they be alright?"

Lucy laughed, "They fight a lot, but they can handle themselves. What about your guys, will they be okay?"

Al, Winry, and Mai laughed. "They'll be just fine." Al said happily.

Lucy held out her hand to Winry, "I'm Lucy, and this is Wendy," Wendy smiled kindly and waved, "and this is Happy and Charle." Happy beamed while Charle nodded when she was introduced.

Winry took Lucy's hand and shook it. "I'm Winry, and this is Mai and Al." Mai smiled and Al raised his hand. The strange cat on Mai's shoulder growled, and Winry laughed, "Oh, and this is Xiao Mai, the panda."

The Fairies blinked in confusion at the creature. "But aren't pandas supposed to be big? And aren't they bears, not cats?" Happy asked innocently (well, _he _thought it was innocent)

Mai crossed her arms angrily. "He has a stunted growth! He's small for life, and won't grow any bigger. Besides, aren't cats supposed to meow, and aren't you cats, not birds?"

Happy looked furious and Charle looked offended. "They're not cats," Lucy said quickly, trying to get everyone calm again, "They're Exceeds. It's hard to explain, but there are others like them that can also fly and talk. They're a completely different breed, they're even from another world, just like you guys."

"Yeah, " Al said, "I remember the other girl, the one in the pink skirt, said something about 'this world'. Are you trying to tell us that we're in another universe?"

Lucy sighed. She didn't really get this either, but she should probably at least try and explain to them.

"Okay," she said after a moment, "apparently, there are infinite worlds out there, with infinite possibilities. Sometimes, portals between different worlds open and allow people through. Charlene, that's the girl in pink, thinks that Roy came through by accident, and you guys all followed."

For a moment, it was silent (save the guys fighting in the background, Erza and Hawkeye still glaring daggers at each other, and Charlene surveying the group) and it was soon becoming awkward. Then, Winry groaned.

"Honestly, why is it that _we_'_re _always the ones that weird things happen to? Can't we go one year, _one year, _without having something like this happen?"

Al laughed good-naturedly, "Aw, c'mon Winry. It's kinda fun, don't you think?" She sighed and smiled, not saying anything in return.

At the other end of the top of the sand dune, Charlene huffed and blew a stray piece of hair out of her face, narrowly avoiding an icy punch.

_Why do they feel the need to fight all the time? _She thought bitterly. _Well, it could be a lot worse..._

She looked around and surveyed the group. Wendy, Lucy, Happy and Charle were comfortably conversing with Mai, Al, Winry and Xiao Mai. She had expected that those people would probably be the calm ones and start conversing first.

Erza and Hawkeye were still glaring at each other, not sure what to make of their near-doppleganger. Charlene sighed. She had expected this, to some extent. She knew that Riza and Erza were very much alike, and she hoped that they would become friends. But that seemed like it might be a little too high of an expectation. Friendly acquaintances, if she was lucky. Which she never was.

Then, there were the boys. She was dreaming in technicolor if she thought that Gray and Roy would get along. She had known that they would be a little hostile towards each other, but she had hoped that by the time that Rot arrived, she could have acquainted everyone.

She wasn't surprised at all that it was Natsu and Gray who had started the fight. What was she to expect? Then, unsurprisingly, the Colonel had been dragged in, and Ed had jumped in soon after that. It was strange; the fight contained the same familiar easiness and comfort as the brawls in Fairy Tail, but also had a sense of ferocity and anger. If Charlene had to guess, she'd say that the familiarity and friendliness would be coming from Ed and Mustang, and Natsu and Gray. The four boys: two alchemists and two Mages, fought the opposite with that anger. But it was hard to read the four, mixing around and feeling so many emotions...

She groaned. These people were crazy.

She decided that she should probably stop the fight before it got worse. Usually, Erza or Riza would jump in and put an end to it (even though both had somewhat different tactics), but the two were still occupied with glaring at the other.

So, Charlene stepped forwards, arms out, saying as calmly as she could, "Okay, guys, you've had your fun. Now let-" she was cut off by a piece of ice hitting her forehead. _Of course, _she thought bitterly, _they start using magic as soon as I step in to stop it. _

"Hey, watch it Stripper!" Natsu yelled, noticing how a piece of Gray's Ice Lance had hit Charlene straight in the face, "You just hit someone with your stupid ice!"

"That's the point of this, Flame Brain!" Gray yelled back, leaving himself open for Ed to transmute the ground beneath him into a rock fist and punch him in the face.

"Hey," Ed said with a grin, "I should do this more often!" He was about to attempt another punch, but was promptly stopped when Roy pulled the same trick on him.

"You're rusty, FullMetal." Roy said calmly. Ed was about to yell back at him, when Natsu interrupted and punched Mustang in the gut, his fist on fire.

The boys continued on like so, and the group of calmly talking people were starting to get a little worried. Riza and Erza still weren't paying any attention. Which was a good thing for the fighting boys; it was bad enough that both parties had to deal with one of them, but _both! _They may be stupid at times, but they weren't suicidal.

Magic was flying everywhere, and Charlene was getting very annoyed. She tried asking them politely to stop several more times, but either kept getting interrupted or ignored. She had had enough, however, when Natsu or Roy (it was getting hard to tell, what with all of the dust and magic flying around) had lit her skirt on fire.

After a quick douse with sand that she turned into water, and she quickly expanded the fabric using her magic so it looked good as new, she rounded on them. The other groups had noticed her, and all simultaneously decided that her glare was definitely up there with Erza's _You Smooshed My Cake _glare, Hawkeye's _You Moron, I'm Not Your Babysitter_, Lucy's _I've Had a Bad Day And You're Bothering Me, _and Winry's _What Did You Do To My Precious Auto_-_mail? _The boys, still fighting, hadn't noticed her, and thus angered her more.

After a moment of her glaring, she stomped her foot, making four round, perfectly smooth pits. She pushed winds in different directions, pushing each of the boys into a different pit. She then raised the piece of the earth that she was standing on so that she could see all four of them.

"Listen, you morons," she hissed angrily, glaring at each of the boys in the pits, "I _specifically _asked that there be no fighting. And what did you do?" After a moment of silence, she asked louder, with more anger, "_And what did you do?_"

"Fight." They said grumpily, like school-children getting scolded. The others, however, found it quite amusing.

"Now," she said angrily, "How about you four talk like adults," at this, she glared at Mustang, who grumbled under his breath, "And _not _destroy anything!"

After a mumbling of agreement, she sighed, lowering her dais and raising the ground on which the four boys was seated on. The four boys looked amazed at what she did as their pits disappeared as if they didn't exist. Except Natsu. His motion sickness had kicked in. Ed noticed and laughed. "Are you kidding? You're _sick_?"

Natsu grumbled as he struggled to get up. "I have motion sickness, bastard."

"But sick from a piece of _earth? _That really sucks." Ed thought back to what he was doing before Hawkeye had called them in to look for the Colonel. Ed had been halfway back to Risembool from his west-ward travels. In order to get anywhere, he needed to take a from of vehicle. Ed smirked to himself. This guy was weak.

"Alright!" Charlene yelled, sensing the tensions growing again. "Let's get the basics out of the way. My name is Charlene. I use magic. You guys are from another universe and somehow stumbled into this one. My friends here use magic, too."

The Amestrians looked surprised and confused. Ed glared and pointed a finger at Charlene.

"How do we know that you're telling the truth? For all we know, you guys could be one of the hostile border countries."

"Well, think about it," Charlene said somewhat impatiently, "I can sure as heck tell you that none of us from this world use anything even close to Alchemy. Well, apart from a few specific types of magic, like Gray's. The fashion is completely different, but you still speak the same language. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but I would say that you were most likely not too close to any border when you crossed over to our world, yes?" For a moment, it was silent as everyone processed what she just said.

It was Ed who spoke first. "Okay, well I guess that that makes sense. But it's just so...so _strange. _Even for us."

Everyone laughed somewhat tensely, still not quite used to the news and the new company.

"Well," Charlene said, trying to loosen the tensions. It wasn't working. "Why don't up we start with introductions? I already introduced myself, so tell us a little bit about yourselves."

"I feel like I'm back in kindergarten," Ed grumbled. Gray snorted, and the two shared a strange look; a little bit of understanding, though confused.

"I'll go first!" Natsu yelled, "I'm Natsu Dragneel, a member of Fairy Tail!" Excited, Natsu thrust his fist into the air, flames licking his knuckles. "And this is my pal, Happy!" At this, Happy leaped up into the air and yelled "Aye Sir!" The Amestrians were still a little surprised and worried about his magic. Was he not affected by the flames? And a talking cat...

"Um," Mai asked nervously, shuffling her feet, "Doesn't that fire hurt you?"

Natsu laughed. "Nah, I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer! Fire doesn't bother me, in fact, I love it!" Natsu grinned happily, which made the others' shoulders relax a little bit.

"And, the cat talks..." Ed mumbled, staring at it angrily. It seemed like a Chimera. Granted, a good one, but still too human and yet far too animal at the same time. It reminded him of a little girl back home and her big white dog...

"I'm an Exceed!" Happy said proudly, suddenly sprouting wings and flying over to the busty blonde. Ed smiled nervously, deciding that since they didn't have alchemy, they didn't have chimeras. And, this thing seemed so sure of itself and in control, unlike other humanoid Chimeras.

"Immune to fire, hmm?" Mustang mumbled, still fixated on the pink haired boy. Natsu heard him and nodded, still grinning. Smirking slightly, the Colonel snapped his fingers, sending an explosion of flames straight at Natsu.

"Roy!" Riza screeched, glaring at him. She looked like she was about to shoot him, when she was interrupted by Natsu.

"Man, this fire is good! Almost as good as charcoal." The Amestrians looked over to see Natsu, calmly stuffing the flames in his mouth and _eating them._

"Wha- but, why, how, just-" Roy stuttered, completely and utterly taken by surprise. He knew that he was immune, but able to eat it? Is this what magic was?

"Stop it Natsu! You're scaring them!" Lucy cried, sensing the otherworlders' distress.

"How?" He asked innocently, "It's not like I'm hurt or anything..."

"That's the problem here, Flame Brain. Normally, people get burned when they spontaneously combust!"

"Shut up, Ice Idiot! It's not my fault that they're not used to someone eating fire."

"Both of you, knock it off!" Erza demanded. Both boys immediately answered with an over-enthusiastic "Aye Sir!", apparently mimicking Happy.

Erza sighed in slight annoyance, then turned to the others. "I'm Erza Scarlet, also a member of Fairy Tail. It's a pleasure to meet you." The Amestrians nodded, still not quite sure how she had made the two boys stop bickering with six simple words.

"What kind of magic do you do?" Winry asked politely.

Erza smiled slyly. "I'm a Re-quip Mage, which means that I can change my weapons and my armour to boost my abilities."

"Woah," Al said excitedly, "Can we see?"

"Sure, why not?" Suddenly, light flashed around her, covering her body. After a moment, the light died and she stood in (rather revealing) red armour, had twin pigtails, and a strange looking red spear. Gone were her shorts and bikini top (it was far too hot for her regular armour). "This is my Flame Empress Armour," she explained, thrusting the spear in Mustang's direction.

He tensed, noticing very much that her face was set in that determined look he so often saw in Riza. "Care to try me, Flame Alchemist?" Roy smiled and nodded, snapping his fingers again, sending red at the red woman. He had absolutely no idea of what she was going to do next, and he was a little excited to find out.

In a flash, she swept her spear through the flames and they evaporated. She stabbed her spear into the ground, then requipped back to her previous outfit, the armour and spear magically disappearing in a golden light.

"She cut right through the flames..." Ed muttered. Al nodded beside him, awed by this power.

"That was very impressive Erza," Wendy said sweetly, "Though you may have frightened them a bit." She turned and beamed at the Amestrians. "I'm Wendy Marvel, and this is Charle. We're both members of Fairy Tail."

"And I'm also an Exceed, in case you were wondering." The cat, sorry, Exceed named Charle huffed.

"Um, how many of you are there?" Mai asked politely, staring at Charle with innocent curiosity.

"Well, there's a whole race not too far from where we live, and there's a friend of ours who's also in the guild," Charle explained. She was uncharacteristically polite. But, something about Mai reminded her of Wendy...

"That's cool", Al smiled, "and what magic do you do Wendy?"

"Oh," Wendy said, shuffling her feet, "I'm a Sky Dragon Slayer."

"So, you're like Natsu then?" Riza asked.

"Sort of. It's the same style of magic, but mine is more support magic and healing magic than anything." Wendy explained.

"I see..." Riza said simply.

"I'm Lucy," Lucy jumped in, wanting to keep the conversation going. Everyone was getting more and more comfortable with each other, and a slight nod from Charlene encouraged her to keep going. "And I'm the Celestial Spirit Mage of Fairy Tail."

"Celestial Spirit..?" Winry asked, "You mean, like the spirits of the stars?"

Lucy nodded, "Mm-hmm. Exactly. I can call forth the spirits of the heavens to aid me."

"She makes it sound so fancy and cool..." Natsu snickered.

"Yeah, even though they're all weirdos, especially Lucy..." Happy whispered back.

"I'm right here!" Lucy hissed, glaring at them, "And don't insult my spirits!" Then she turned around back to face the others, pulled out a silver key and thrust it into the air in front of her. "Open, gate of the Little Dog; Nikola!" A yellow circle appeared, and there was a noise like a doorbell, then a bright light.

It dimmed after a moment and, standing where the circle had been, was a...dog?

"Pun-puun!" It said happily, wobbling on two legs.

"Everybody," Lucy said, picking up the dog (?), "Meet Plue! He's one of my spirits!" Riza softened at the sight of Plue.

"Aw! He's so cute!" Winry said, standing beside Lucy and stroking Plue's head. "So, how'd you do that, anyway?" She asked, still petting Plue.

"It my keys," Lucy explained, "I channel my energy to my keys and I can summon sprints from another world."

"Oh," Winry said, looking slightly disappointed. "is _anything _here mechanical?"

"Nope," Happy said cheekily, munching on a fish, "Pretty much everything here is run by magic. There's no real need for mechanics."

"No...mechanics..." Winry mumbled. Ed saw her hand twitch, longing for her weapon of choice that seemed to be pulled out of thin air; _the wrench. _

In a flash, Ed was there, an arm over her shoulders, trying to get her off of the topic. "Hey now," he said nervously, "I'm sure that there's _something _here. And, worst comes to worst, you could always experiment with automail. You never know, this magic thing opens up a lot of do-" he stopped when he noticed the evil look on her face. _Oh no, _he thought, _why did I say that she could experiment with automail? I_'_m dead..._

"So," he said, trying to get someone else to talk, "What about your power Gray? Haven't seen that yet..."

Gray laughed, "So I'm your _Get Out Of Jail Free _card? Ha, okay. How about I give you a small demonstration?" Before anyone could say anything, Gray thrust his left fist into his right palm. After a moment of frosty light and fog coming from his hands, he spread them to reveal a small object made of ice; the symbol that each of the Fairy a tail members had on their bodies. "I use Ice-Make Magic, which means that I can create ice into any form that I want."

"What's that symbol?" Mai asked politely, staring at it in awe. Gray went over to her and bent down so that he was eye level with her. He held out his hand, offering the ice figurine to her. She took it, and looked at it thoughtfully. It was already starting to melt, but it was very well sculpted.

"It's our guild symbol," Gray explained patiently. "And what's your name? Do you do any magic?"

Mai shuffled a bit, Xiao Mai yawned on her shoulder. "My name is Mai Chang, seventeenth daughter of the late Emperor of Xing. And I'm an alchestress." She stood up a little straighter when she said the last bit.

"Alchestress?" Wendy asked quietly, "What's that?"

Mai smiled, "An alchestress is someone who performs alchestry, which is like alchemy, but mostly used for healing."

Wendy's eyes lit up. "You do healing magic too?" Almost immediately, the two girls were talking about the differences between their abilities, and what they could or could not do.

Winry laughed. "How cute. Anyway, I'm Winry. I don't really have any abilities, but I _love _automail!" She got a dreamy, far-off look in her eyes, apparently daydreaming about automail.

"Yes," Erza said, "I've heard you say that word a few times. But what exactly is automail?"

"Oh," Ed said, bending down and lifting up his left pant leg, "This is automail."

The Fairies stared in awe. His leg seemed to be made completely of metal.

"It's unlike any other prosthetic," Winry said dreamily, "it connects the nerves so that you can move it like a real limb! And it's made of reinforced steel, so it's almost impossible to break!" Then she scowled at Ed, who smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his head, looking anywhere but at Winry or his leg. "But, you somehow always end up breaking it anyway."

"It's not my fault! It's not like I ask for guys to beat me up!" Al looked like he wanted to say something, and opened his mouth to do so, then apparently decided against it and closed his mouth.

Natsu laughed loudly. "What?" Winry asked, slightly irritated, "What's so funny?"

"Nothin'", Natsu said, grinning childishly, "I just wouldn't let Gajeel anywhere near him." Natsu then burst into chuckles and his guild members rolled their eyes.

"Anyways," Ed said, turning away from Winry, "'I'm Edward Elric, but you guys can call me Ed. I'm an alchemist."

Al smiled and waved, "And I'm his brother, Alphonse, but my friends call me Al. I'm also an alchemist."

"What exactly are alchemists anyway?" Natsu asked, crossing his arms. Apparently he didn't think that his "Gajeel" joke wasn't as funny anymore.

"Well," Ed said, "Alchemy is the science of understanding, deconstructing and reconstructing matter. But-"

"Just show him, FullMetal!" Snapped Roy, "He's not going to listen to your spiel."

Ed glowered and rolled his eyes, but slapped his hands together, making a noise louder than usual. Then he thrust them to the ground. Blue lightning crackled around him, stirring up dust. After it died down, Ed held a small, stone object in his hands. "Couldn't do much, since it has to be equal, but here," he tossed the stone to Natsu, who caught it easily. He looked at it then laughed.

"I see you're warming up to Fairy Tail!" He held up the stone, which was an almost exact replica of Gray's ice figurine.

"Well," Mustang said with a smirk, "The other locals that I've met have been less than friendly, so I can take what I can get. I'm Colonel Mustang, by the way."

"Ah," Ed said smiling, "You're not a part of any military here. Stop with the formalities."

The colonel bristled. "Fine," he said curtly, "I'm Roy. _Colonel,_" he put emphasis on the last part and glared at Ed, who simply looked in the other direction, pretending not to notice anything, "Roy Mustang. I'm also an alchemist, as you may have guessed. But, I specialize in a different form of alchemy; Flame Alchemy."

"That would explain why I had a hard time fighting you," Gray said thoughtfully, "You weren't even using any sort of magic. I guess that I was so focused on that that I wasn't able to see if your 'alchemy' had any weaknesses."

"And usually, it does," Roy said proudly, "But that does not apply to me. See, you need a transmutation circle, much like the ones that you used before. If the circle is broken, then the transmutation can it be performed."

Ed nodded, "Yeah, that's how I almost beat him. I used my alchemy to turn my metal arm into a blade, then cut his glove where the circle was stitched, therefore breaking it and rendering his alchemy useless."

"Your metal arm...?" Lucy asked, "But it doesn't..." She looked down at Ed's bare hands, both of which seemed to be made of flesh. Though one was slightly paler than the other.

Ed grabbed his upper right arm, a dark expression on his face, "It's a long story..." He muttered. The Fairies and Charlene all shared a look. They all had their fair share of "long stories", and they knew that they weren't always fun to tell.

"What about you," Erza asked politely, an edge of unease in her voice as she turned to her not-quite-doppleganger. "Who are you?"

"My name is Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. I am not an alchemist, alchehestress, or mechanic."

"What do you do then?" Natsu asked.

Without saying a word, Riza grabbed a coin in her pocket, tossed it up into the air and raised her gun.

_**BANG! **_She picked up the coin, the gun smoking slightly from the shot, and tossed it to Erza.

She caught it and looked at it curiously. Then she smiled. "I see, your skills lie in weapons. You have excellent aim." Erza held up the coin for everyone to see, and the Fairies were very impressed. She had managed a shot through the very centre of the coin which was about half a centimetre wide.

The others stared in awe, but Riza seemed unmoved. "Thank you," then, almost as an afterthought, she added "Erza."

"Alrighty then!" Charlene said suddenly, clapping her hands. So far, everything had gone okay. Sure, at the beginning it looked like they were about to enter an all-out brawl, but now things seemed to have calmed down. "Now that everyone is comfortable with each other, I think that it's safe to say that we can bring them back to the guild an-"

"**_WHAT?_**" Was everyone's initial reaction. _Oh bother, _Charlene thought, _and just as things were going so well too._

"Charlene," it was Erza who spoke first, "Is it really wise to have people from two different worlds in one place?"

"Yeah," Lucy added, "And wouldn't that create a paradox of some sort?"

"Actually," Charlene said patiently, only to be interrupted by Ed.

"And we would really prefer if we went home as soon as possible."

"Uh," Al interjected, "no offence." Ed just waved his hand dismissively.

"Whatever. See, we were kind of in the middle of something back home."

Winry nodded, lifting up her suitcase, "And I was kind of in the middle of designing and building a new prototype of automail. I had to drop everything to come here."

"Tch," Ray said irritably, "Let's no forget that I am _still _cleaning up the mess that Amestris has made. We've finally managed to negotiate something with the Ishvalans, but there's still so much left to do."

"And I may or may not be assisting in running a country," Mai said shyly. "In fact, Emperor Ling is expecting me back any moment now..."

"Look-" Charlene tried again, only to be ignored once more.

"And I don't think that Master would appreciate any extra reason for fights," Wendy said politely, "Or the extra destruction and firepower."

"I say let's fight em all we want!" Natsu said with a grin, "Let them come to the guild! It'll be fun!"

"But Natsu," Happy said, a slight worrying tone to his voice, "More people means more mouths to feed. Which means less food. And since they don't have the money, they're gonna have to get all of their meals at the guild. **For free!**"

Natsu gasped dramatically, "What? No, that can't happen! Go home, and stop stealing our food!"

"Aye sir!"

"Honestly," Charle sighed.

"Can it, Coal for Brains, they're not going to the guild, and they're not going to steal _our_ food." Gray said irritably, putting emphasis on "our", hoping that it would get through the idiot's thick skull that not all food belonged to him.

"Um, actually-" Charlene tried again.

"What did ya say, Stripper!"

"I'm not a- ah _crap!_" Gray hurried to put on his pants while the Amestrian boys tried to cover their girls' eyes.

"See!" Ed said, "We don't want to deal with this! We just want to go home."

"Well, **_YOU CANT GO HOME! _**" Charlene yelled, effectively catching everyone's attention. She calmed herself with a breath, then smoothed out her skirt. She then looked at everyone in front of her in turn. "It's perfectly fine to have people from two different worlds in one place. Nothing bad happens unless they physically cause it. No paradoxes. That's part of the reason why stuff like this happens so often; it mostly has little to no damage or aftermath, and really no effect on the environment. No one bothers to stop it. Second, you cannot go home. The portal has disappeared, and I cannot find one nearby right now. Also, I don't have to power to create one, so you're stuck here for a while. Don't worry," she added, upon seeing their angry and crestfallen faces, "you won't be here long. Portals are always appearing. We'll find one soon. And Elrics, you can return to whatever you were doing when you get back. Winry, as Ed said earlier, this magic could really help with automail and give you some great new ideas. Roy and Riza, there are others assisting you in your mission to clean up the country. I'm sure that they'll understand if you slack off for a week. Mai, Emperor Ling is perfectly capable of running the country for himself for a little while. Now, we will be heading to Fairy Tail, where our new friends will _not _devour our food supplies (at this she shot a glare at Natsu), and will _not _destroy the universe. Now, are we clear?"

Everyone looked like they disagreed with the plan, but it's not like they could argue. After all, if Charlene was educated in the multiverse, then she would have no reason to lie about the portals. It was obvious that she had no master plan, and being in the company of other humans seemed to make her uncomfortable. Her logic and arguments were really intelligent and made them all sound like whining children who wanted to go home.

After no one disagreed with her, Charlene huffed and turned on her heel, heading towards the nearest town to catch a train. "Good," she said, not looking back. She could feel all of the irritated auras following her, "Now we can catch a train and head back to Magnolia."

Natsu groaned and muttered about trains and little blonde girls from Hell.

_Honestly, _Charlene thought bitterly, _Things just went from bad to worse._


End file.
